Chương 443: Tales of Blood (VIII)

As I appeared to admire her a touch too long, I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, and I immediately twisted my body sideways, extending my free arm and grasping toward the seeming nothingness behind me. Within a moment, I felt flesh meet my fingers as I grasped tightly and yanked.

While an array of shadow-made daggers flew all around me like water from a hose, an expressionless, cold, apathetic figure appeared from the cloaking darkness, its eyes starkly staring at mine even as I held his throat so tightly that it was unlikely he could breathe.

"That's the last one, keep him alive," Liao Xinya appeared by my side rather swiftly, her flaming coating having vanished.

"What Sect do you belong to? How did you get in? Who gave you the token?" She fired off questions one after another, questions I was certain she wasn't gonna get any answers to. Something happened that freaked me out even more than the cold, bloodless, empty expressions the... thing had before: he smiled.

Its lips curled up and stretched out, revealing two rows of pearly white teeth--I mean, those things legit put that stupid-ass Hollywood smile to shame, goddamn--and as his voice trickled out, those teeth did not move. Two rows remained pressed into one another as his voice trickled out.

"Master has warned me that if I ever encounter someone who sees through me, I must hunt them down to the far ends of the world," huh? Wait... is Shadow Lord or whatever Master of this guy--or, the guy behind the guy--or is Shadow Lord now speaking? That can't be, no?

"Leave no roots to grow and threaten. You... you threaten." He wasn't looking at Liao Xinya, which seemed to peeve her a great deal, but rather at me. Makes sense--my reaction likely told him that I, at least on some level, had some inkling of who, or what, he was.

"I have an amazing hidden talent," I said.

"What is it?" he asked.

"To immediately and completely forget things like no other," I said.

"I snap my fingers, and all we've experienced here just goes... puff. Like the flicker of fading smoke, drifting in the wind, never to be seen--or remembered--again."

"..." while Xi Zhao struggled to keep his composure, his shoulders dancing up and down as he looked away, Liao Xinya and this thing I was still holding by the neck looked at me... well, odd was certainly a choice word. The young woman looked at me as though I had a hole in my head, and the thing looked at me with a strange level of detached bemusement, as if it tried really hard to care for something, but could only muster up so much enthusiasm for it.

"Maybe, maybe not," the thing said as the body began to vaporize, feet up.

"First, you must survive this place. Will you be able to do it? Ah, the dead rise and the dead sing, but among the dead come cloaked and hungry. And above them stands thunder, thirsty for blood. All must fall and all must die, for the lock without a key to open." And off he went, leaving behind a riddle? A puzzle? Words perfectly designed to piss me off because he somehow knew I was more tired of vague warnings and prophecies than most anything else in this godforsaken world?... haah.

I let go with my fingers just in time to watch particles of blood-colored light spark out and for the body to vanish completely, leaving no traces behind. Looking around, that was the case with every other body, too. [--Traces of the Shadow Lord(???) Quest was failed] [...] [Partial intent discovered: it seems that Shadow Lord is searching for its Master] This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Huh? Wait, what? Where did you get that from?!

[If Host could realize the identity of Shadow Lord's Master, perhaps it might open up a path to realizing the identity of Shadow Lord itself] [Hint: Host must reach Void Transformation Realm using the system-suggested path to receive a hint] [...] [Eternity offers to unmask the voice and the identity behind it] [Cost: 500, 000, 000CP] [--Host has insufficient CP] Wow. Half a billion points? The only other time it cost even remotely that much was when I tried to identify Eternity.

Speaking of it, it was actually getting a bit better these days at hiding--I'd still recognize where it was within seconds, but it used to be a second. Right now, it was one of the glowing bulbs of light... except it was amber-colored, which none of the others were. How neither Xi Zhao nor Liao Xinya noticed that, I'll probably never know.

"Did you understand what he was saying toward the end?" she asked me.

"Of course."

"What was he saying?"

"Vague old-man gibberish he thinks is wise, but is actually raging bullshit of nonsense and stupidity. God, if I have to listen to another old man expound about something simple by writing a damn essay about it, I might just light the world on fire."

"Hm," she merely nodded, though a glimpse of a smile could be seen for a second before she hid herself in the dark and looked away. At the very least, I mused, we didn't have to clean up anything for a change and could just camp out for a little while to rest and recover some Qi. In the meantime, I examined the surrounding area a bit more, growing more in awe with each pass.

The trees were spaced out almost with intent, their fruits also seemingly hanging at specific heights so as to always have these areas of darkness in every direction. There wasn't an 'uninterrupted path', as it were, that was entirely lit up; you had to come into the dark, and though you could see beyond it, and could see the shapes waiting for you, you couldn't see anything whilst in it. I dipped in and out a few times, and the feeling was... odd.

Even if I enhanced my eyes with Qi, I couldn't actually see anything while standing within those regions--not even a finger I was holding literally up to my eye... but I could see the world beyond it. Yes. I could see the world despite the fact there was a finger in front of my eye. Now, either I have absolutely horrible spatial awareness of where I put my hands, and my finger was actually near my bellybutton or something, or this place here does some funky stuff with light.

[--a cry resonates within Eternity's World] [Core senses a kindred spirit at the center of the Forest] [The kindred spirit is crying for help]... huh. Alright. I'd actually kind of forgotten (a bit) about the Core that Eternity was rearing, which I probably shouldn't do since it costs damn 10, 000 points yearly for upkeep. I'm also quite in some ways surprised that it can articulate anything, though it might just be the system very liberally 'translating' the intent, sort of like we do when babies cry.

Just sort of guess and hope you're right.

"Xinya," I called out to the young woman.

"What is it?"

"Which way to the center of this place?"

"H-huh? Why... why do you want to go there?"

"Is there a reason I shouldn't?" I asked.

"Many," she said.

"Chief of which would be dying."

"If I go there I will die?"

"Yes."

"Ah, and to think I will die so young," I faked a melancholy sigh.

"Oh well. At least I will die my handsome self."

"..." she bit back an insult, I imagine, and just chose to ignore me. The world had changed me, as not too long ago I would have winced and turned tail if someone so much as mentioned being hurt, let alone dying, as an outcome of going someplace. And yet, here I was, about to go someplace I might die, feeling almost no fear or anxiety. Huh. What the hell is wrong with me!?